The present disclosure generally relates to the field of electronics. More particularly, an embodiment of the invention relates to improving integrated circuit (IC) performance across a range of operating conditions and/or physical constraints.
Generally, an IC may be designed to operate within a specific environment. Such constraints may include physical parameters such as an allowable operating temperature range and an allowable operating voltage range. These parameters and specifications may be determined based on the worst case operating conditions. However, such configurations may provide a substantial difference between a typical operating point and the worst case operating point.
Moreover, when a product is tested in a high volume manufacturing environment, the operating parameters may be adjusted to ensure that an individual processor meets the relevant specifications, and that it may operate correctly and reliably within the described environment. In order to ensure that all relevant specifications are met, the operating frequency and voltage may be adjusted with fuses on a part-by-part basis. As a result of this set of specifications and constraints, the operating frequency for a specific processor may be permanently fused such that processor performance running a worst case workload in a worst case environment may be substantially lower than could be achieved when running a typical workload in a typical operating environment. Accordingly, achievable processor frequency may be left unused as a result of the worst case corner operating conditions. Furthermore, the delta between the fused frequency and achievable frequency is growing as multi-core processors become more common-place.